The Prophet Isaiah 1 Of 2

I find it hard to believe what many of these television preachers preach and teach most of the time. Much of it is UNSCRIPTURAL AND RIDICULOUS! They make the Lord’s work look bad! When one comes up with a new idea for making more money, the others seem to follow.

I am sure there must be some good ones, but sometimes in watching these television preachers you can not help but wonder if there are any good ones.

Illus: They remind me of John, who was a salesman who often came home with some kind of unusual gimmick.

His wife Marsha had long ago given up trying to get him to change, but he would often come home to surprise her with some kind of gimmick she had never seen before.

One day, John came home with another one of his unusual purchases. It was a robot that John claimed was actually a lie detector.

He placed it over in the corner.

It was 5:30 that afternoon, and Tommy, their teenage son had not returned home from school. Tommy was over 2 hours late. When he finally came home his dad said:

• “Where have you been? Why are you over 2 hours late getting home?”

• Their teenage son said, “Several of us went to the library to work on an extra credit project.”

• The robot then walked around the table and slapped Tommy, knocking him completely out of his chair.

• Tommy’s father said, “Son, this robot is a lie detector, now tell us where you really were after school?”

• Tommy said, “We went to Bobby's house and watched a movie.”

• His mother said, “What did you watch?”

• Tommy said, “The Ten Commandments.”

• The robot went around to Tommy and once again slapped him, knocking him off his chair.

• With his lip quivering, Tommy got up, sat down and said, “I am sorry I lied. We really watched a girly show.”

• His father said, “I am ashamed of you son. When I was your age, I never lied to my parents.”

• The robot then walked around to John and delivered a whack that nearly knocked him out of his chair.

• Tommy’s mother, Marsha, doubled over in laughter, almost in tears and said, “Boy, did you ever ask for that one! You can't be too mad with Tommy. After all, he is your son!”

• With that the robot immediately walked around to Marsha and knocked her out of her chair.

Like I said, when it comes to these television preachers, sometimes you wonder if any of them are preaching the truth.

When you hear these television preachers talking, you have to take into consideration that they are talking to people who want to believe the kind of stuff they are promoting. So they tell them what they want to hear.

God does talk to us, but not in an audible voice. For example, God talks to us in two ways today:

(1) HE TALKS TO US THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES

(2) HE TALKS TO US THROUGH PRAYER

He does this as we clear our minds of the things of the world and spend time with Him in prayer. He puts His thoughts in our mind. This is how He now talks to us.

However, during the days of Isaiah, God spoke to His prophets through visions where they often audibly heard the voice of the Lord.

According to Isaiah 1:1, this is how God spoke to Isaiah.

Now God can still do this if He chooses to do so. However, many people today that claim to have all these visions and revelations live a questionable lifestyle.

Illus: They remind me of the VP Debate between Lloyld Benson and Dan Quayle, when Vice President Dan Quayle made reference to John F. Kennedy’s experience.

Senator Quayle did not directly compare himself with Kennedy in terms of accomplishment, but in terms of time of Congressional service;

• Quayle served for 12 years

• Kennedy served for 14 years

When it came time for Senator Benson to respond to the reference he had made to Jack Kennedy, he said, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy: I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy!”

From the Scriptures, we know these great prophets that God spoke to in an audible voice, and these television preachers are NO ISAIAH!!!

Before we dive into the message of the Book of Isaiah, we first want to take a look at THE MAN…ISAIAH.

I. THE MAN

I want you to grasp everything you possibly can from this Book of the Bible.

Isaiah is considered by many as one of the greatest prophets in the scriptures. He is considered to be one of the Major Prophets because the Book of Isaiah is a very large book that covers many topics in the scriptures.